Gee, August is almost gone and we are fully into the "dog days of summer". I lost the month of August in the pleasant suburb near Dallas. My days were filled with driving to and from the ice rink, shopping centers, pharmacy, grocery stores and physician offices for scheduled appointments. The preschool frenzy is still a fact of life and a recovering surgical patient makes the chaos complete. The calm of my little house on the lake is like a breath of fresh air.
Ol' Abner was certainly ready for me to be here. He's even accompanied me to the grocery store and to the hairdresser to pick up products ordered. The dog stays close by whenever I sit for any reason. Maybe my absence was noticed!
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Friday, August 9, 2013
Just another Quiet Week
Daughter is well on the road to recovery, but the road is still long. She keeps telling me the knee is already more stable than the last replacement. The fact that the other knee is functioning certainly affects the general mobility she is enjoying. She has managed to go up the stairs since that first night home. I have little doubt that sleeping in her own bed as opposed to the chaise lounge sofa in the den certainly affords better rest, thus speeding her recovery along.
My presence was a planned portion of the process this time instead of a sudden decision when the needs of home, Son In Law's work and children's schedules just could not be accomplished on their own. Their friends have furnished evening meals since the return from the hospital and we have all indulged in delicious dinners...always with dessert, usually sufficient in portion to enjoy for lunch the following day. My duties have involved transportation, a little laundry, and answering the door for physical therapists, home nurses and picking up prescriptions as needed. Checking inventories of staple food items and refilling as needed take me back to those days of daily depletion of a gallon or more of milk.
School will start in just over two weeks. Skating schedules must be kept up and revised for the beginning of school. Older granddaughter has a job and is also accumulating drive hours to qualify for her driving test. I ride along as she deftly navigates the busy streets to the shopping center where she is employed. When she is out with friends I wait up for her and make sure the house is all secured after her arrival. Eye exams, dermatologist appointments and other preschool events are the places we must go these days. A couple of seeming complications have involved unplanned doctor visits for daughter, but those hurdles seem to have been managed.
This brief history seems rather unremarkable, but true to form, I must inject a crisis of my own. My car chose (I know cars don't really make choices but it would seem so) this very hot week to kill itself. I backed out of a parking space and a strange message about "fail safe mode" flashed just before it died. At restart the display included the "check engine" light. I followed Ol' Abner's recommendation to add some techron to the gas tank. This seems to happen every year a month or so after summer fuel blends have been initiated. It did seem to fix it for a couple of days, and then the dreaded light returned. After a day or so of panic and planned despair, I finally took the car to the local dealership for advice. Meanwhile Ol' Abner was trying to decide whether to pull funds from savings to purchase my new car, or bite the bullet and take on payments! He asked the hated question "Ruling out the Escalade, what kind of car would you like to have now?" He wasn't surprised by the answer that I don't want a new one, but gently explained that it might be time. On arrival at the dealership, the service writer listened to my sad history and went inside to check on a recall. It seems a known defect had caused my car's pain and the manufacturer would correct it at no cost to me. The technician checked everything over on my car and declared it in fine health once the correction had been completed. Now I have a little more time to think about what I might want to drive in the future.
My presence was a planned portion of the process this time instead of a sudden decision when the needs of home, Son In Law's work and children's schedules just could not be accomplished on their own. Their friends have furnished evening meals since the return from the hospital and we have all indulged in delicious dinners...always with dessert, usually sufficient in portion to enjoy for lunch the following day. My duties have involved transportation, a little laundry, and answering the door for physical therapists, home nurses and picking up prescriptions as needed. Checking inventories of staple food items and refilling as needed take me back to those days of daily depletion of a gallon or more of milk.
School will start in just over two weeks. Skating schedules must be kept up and revised for the beginning of school. Older granddaughter has a job and is also accumulating drive hours to qualify for her driving test. I ride along as she deftly navigates the busy streets to the shopping center where she is employed. When she is out with friends I wait up for her and make sure the house is all secured after her arrival. Eye exams, dermatologist appointments and other preschool events are the places we must go these days. A couple of seeming complications have involved unplanned doctor visits for daughter, but those hurdles seem to have been managed.
This brief history seems rather unremarkable, but true to form, I must inject a crisis of my own. My car chose (I know cars don't really make choices but it would seem so) this very hot week to kill itself. I backed out of a parking space and a strange message about "fail safe mode" flashed just before it died. At restart the display included the "check engine" light. I followed Ol' Abner's recommendation to add some techron to the gas tank. This seems to happen every year a month or so after summer fuel blends have been initiated. It did seem to fix it for a couple of days, and then the dreaded light returned. After a day or so of panic and planned despair, I finally took the car to the local dealership for advice. Meanwhile Ol' Abner was trying to decide whether to pull funds from savings to purchase my new car, or bite the bullet and take on payments! He asked the hated question "Ruling out the Escalade, what kind of car would you like to have now?" He wasn't surprised by the answer that I don't want a new one, but gently explained that it might be time. On arrival at the dealership, the service writer listened to my sad history and went inside to check on a recall. It seems a known defect had caused my car's pain and the manufacturer would correct it at no cost to me. The technician checked everything over on my car and declared it in fine health once the correction had been completed. Now I have a little more time to think about what I might want to drive in the future.
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